Sessions is a vocal advocate of civil asset forfeiture, the process by which local law enforcement can permanently seize property or money that is suspected to have a connection to a crime. During an April 2015 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, then-Sen. Sessions was less than sympathetic toward a witness, Russ Caswell, whose hotel was wrongly seized when local law enforcement claimed that it had facilitated illicit activity.

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Sessions read from letters from law enforcement officials in support of forfeiture while addressing Caswell and defending the pernicious practice, which is often abused. He downplayed the instances in which the legitimately owned property of innocent people — who were never arrested, charged or convicted of any wrongdoing — was seized by law enforcement, who, in most states and at the federal level, can keep all or part of the proceeds from forfeiture.

States, too, have taken the initiative to reform their civil asset forfeiture laws. According to the Institute for Justice, 24 states and the District of Columbia have reformed their forfeiture laws. Fourteen states — including Iowa, New Mexico, and Ohio — require a criminal conviction in most or all instances. Others like Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have increased evidentiary standards to the highest in civil court, clear and convincing evidence.

Several states have placed restrictions on adoptive seizures, prohibiting the transfer of seized property to the federal government entirely or limiting unless the total value exceeds a specific, high dollar amount. This prevents law enforcement from circumventing protective state forfeiture law. The federal government’s forfeiture law has a low evidentiary standard, a preponderance of the evidence, and law enforcement can receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds from permanently seized property.

Last month, Sessions unveiled a directive to undo the administrative changes put in place by Holder limiting the use of adoptive seizures. Although there were some safeguards in Sessions’ directive, it was largely out of step with wave of reforms seen at the state level and will only serve to legitimize forfeiture.

Thankfully, four amendments have been submitted to the House Rules Committee for consideration that would defund Sessions’ directive. It’s not clear which amendment if any will be considered when the consolidated appropriations bill, H.R. 3354, reaches the House floor likely late next week.

The Amash and Davidson amendments are more comprehensive and are not limited to Sessions’ directive. In fact, these amendments would leave the minor safeguards provided under Sessions’ changes in place. The bipartisan amendments aren’t as comprehensive, although they’re still better than the status quo.

Still, while these amendments are a step in the right direction, Congress will eventually have to settle the concerns over civil asset forfeiture. Legislation has been introduced to increase the standard at the federal level to clear and convincing evidence and provide more protections for property owners who contest a seizure in federal court.